Jamaican Candidates Gear Up for Municipal Elections in Ontario

Jamaican Candidates Gear Up for Municipal Elections in Ontario

By Neil Armstrong | Published in Angles Covered | Published on September 22, 2018

With just over a month before municipal elections in Ontario several Jamaican candidates are campaigning to become the councillor, regional councillor or school board trustee of their cities.

Carleen Blissett is running to be councillor of Whitby’s East Ward 4, Jermaine Chambers for Brampton’s Wards 2 and 6, Allan Jones for regional councillor of Wards 2 and 6 in the Region of Peel, and Kathy McDonald, the incumbent Peel District School Board trustee for Wards 3 and 4 who wants to retain her position.

The Ontario municipal elections will be held on October 22.

Read More in  Angles Covered

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Too many racialized voices missing from political decision making

By Rosshane Vignarajah, Opinions by Moe Ladha, Velma Morgan, Jaskaran Singh Sandhu | Published by The Star | Published On Mon., May 7, 2018

Decisions are made by those who show up, and it is our collective responsibility to ensure that barriers for showing up are removed.

We are a coalition of community animators who find ourselves asking the fundamental question all too often — why is civic engagement not accessible to everyone?

This week, we released a special video as part of a larger “Get Out The Full Vote” (GOTFV) campaign ahead of this year’s provincial and municipal elections in Ontario. Our campaign, called #WeVote, will complement the work members of our coalition have been engaged in already, such as The Canadian-Muslim Vote’s “2018 GOTV” campaign, Operation Black Vote Canada’s recent Black Community Provincial Leaders Debate, the World Sikh Organization’s advocacy training through the Sikh Youth Leadership Institute, and the Tamils in Public Service’s ongoing focus on advocating for women of colour in politics and government.

Read More in the Star.

Wynne gets rough ride at debate

Wynne gets rough ride at debate

By Antonella Artuso | Published in the Toronto Sun | Published:  April 11, 2018 | Updated:  April 11, 2018 9:54 PM EDT

Premier Kathleen Wynne received a rough reception from the audience at the first ever Black issues debate as she defended her government’s record on education, jails and carding.

Moderator Royson James said there’s a crisis in education — that for every 100 black students slated to leave high school, just 69 graduate and only 18 go on to college or university.

After Wynne talked about the changes her government has made in education, James said to her, “You do know that whatever you’re doing isn’t working.”

Read More in the Toronto Sun.

Ford’s comments on black community prompt call for apology

Ford’s comments on black community prompt call for apology

By Marieke Walsh | Published In iPolitics | Published on Apr 6, 2018 6:20 pm

A call for an apology and widespread condemnation met Doug Ford’s comments about the black community on Friday.

“That’s disgusting and insulting,” University of Toronto Professor Rinaldo Walcott said in response to Ford’s comments that he has supported the black community by taking children to his cottage.

Ford’s comments were made in response to questions about why he isn’t attending Ontario’s first black community provincial leaders debate.

Read More on iPolitics.

Ford won’t take part in Toronto’s black community debate, campaign confirms

Ford won’t take part in Toronto’s black community debate, campaign confirms

By Colin D’Mello, CTV News Toronto | Published On Wednesday, April 4, 2018 4:42 PM EDT | Last Updated:  Thursday, April 5, 2018 12:12 PM EDT

Organizers of the first community debate ahead of the provincial election this June are expressing their disappointment after learning PC Leader Doug Ford will skip the event.

Ford’s campaign team says scheduling issues will prevent him from attending the debate hosted by the Jamaican Canadian Association on April 11th.

“Doug Ford is scheduled to be in Northern Ontario on April 11th,” campaign spokesperson Melissa Lantsman said in an email to CTV News Toronto. “We scheduled this before we were made aware of the invite.”

Billed as a “black community provincial leadership debate” the event will feature leaders from the three other parties, including Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and Green Party leader Mike Schreiner.

Read More on CTV News.